Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan submitted a report on the structural safety of the damaged Palarivattom flyover on National Highway 66 Bypass and the need to rehabilitate it to the State government on Thursday. The move comes a fortnight after a team led by him and renowned structural engineer Mahesh Tandon inspected the structure.
A recommendation has been made to conduct rehabilitation work worth ₹18.71 crore to ensure the structural safety of the flyover, which suffered extensive cracks on its pier caps and girders within two years of its commissioning in 2016, it is learnt.
The piles (foundation) and piers (pillars) of the structure are intact. The faulty bearings must be replaced. Most of the concrete spans must be replaced. The joints between piers and pier caps must be strengthened, the report suggests.
IIT-M report
While preparing the report, the expert team went through a 500-page report of IIT, Madras, apart from reports prepared by Mr. Tandon and a consultancy firm that has designed over half a dozen bridges and flyovers in Kochi, it is learnt.
On its part, the government will take a decision on whether to opt for extensive rehabilitation of the structure or to rebuild it, after studying the reports submitted by Mr. Sreedharan and the team of structural engineering experts from IIT-M led by P. Alagusundaramoorthy.
Both Mr. Sreedharan and a team of technical experts from the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), which charged a case based on prima facie evidence of rampant malpractice in constructing the four-lane structure that cost ₹37 crore, had cited that the flyover would have to be rebuilt if rehabilitation methods (such as carbon-fibre wrapping) failed to ensure its structural safety.
A high-ranking Public Works Department (PWD) official said a copy of the report submitted by Mr. Sreedharan would be made available to the department on Friday, following which further deliberations would be held.
RDS Projects, the contracting firm which built the flyover, would have to do all the rehabilitation works at its expense because the structural cracks and potholes all over the surface occurred during the two-year defect-liability period, said official sources.
Reopening
Two months after it was closed down for resurfacing and relaying of expansion joints, it was uncertain when the flyover would be reopened to vehicles, they added.
